Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Enugu
As the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, compete for political relevance, President Bola Tinubu has been warned to be mindful of the “few pretending governors (FPGs) in his party.
The PGF, under the leadership of Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has made it known that Wike’s Rainbow Coalition constituted a distraction in their strategy to ensure President Tinubu’s re-election success. The governors, therefore, want Tinubu to discountenance the FCT Minister’s political alliance since his loyalty is doubtful, being a member of an opposition party.
But a foundation member of APC, Osita Okechukwu, in a statement made available to journalists yesterday in Enugu, advised the president to avoid being misled by the FPGs in his ruling party.
He wondered why the Progressive Governors would create a storm in a teacup over an “elementary political matter such as the coalition being put together by a minister serving in Tinubu’s cabinet.
“In my 48 years of participation in Nigerian party politics, I have never seen where such an elementary issue was pretentiously thrown open,” he said.
According to him, instead of making a fuss around Wike’s political coalition, the PGF should have addressed the issue “through the appropriate party mechanism” if they regard the FCT Minister as a threat.
Okechukwu said that the FPGs had lost their political relevance in their respective states having used and dumped the electorate, noting that they were assuming powers they don’t currently have. He stated that it would be a political miscalculation for Tinubu to dump Wike because of the grumbling governors.
“To the best of my knowledge, some of these FPGs have wittingly or unwittingly used their electorate and recklessly abandoned them, and now want the president to dump Wike,” the APC chieftain said.
He asked the APC governors that see Wike as a threat to utilise their unfettered access to the president to raise their concerns, unless they don’t know what “the proverbial caucus is meant for. My summation is simple: Mr. President, beware of pretenders.”
The party chieftain further cautioned the president against falling into the “booby trap” arising from the political inheritance of a few states where, according to him, a few APC governors had failed to adequately deliver the dividends of democracy to their people.
He argued that there was nothing inherently wrong with President Tinubu maintaining his political relationship with Wike, particularly given Wike’s role in the 2023 presidential election.
“The president has never overlooked the governors. All he wants is supplementary votes from Wike, especially in states where the electorate is angry and where some of the FPGs have alienated the people.
“The governors should therefore concentrate on strengthening their relationship with the electorate rather than asking the president to abandon a political alliance that could broaden the APC’s electoral reach,” Okechukwu said.
He insisted that it would not be “improper for President Tinubu to dump Wike after we harvested the Wike masquerade, which not only boosted our great party’s votes in 2023, but also denied His Excellency Atiku Abubakar substantial votes.”
The former managing director, Voice of Nigeria, said that it’s certain that the FCT Minister “will mobilise voters in states where the FPGs had alienated the electorate by personalising power.”
On the declaration by the Progressive Governors that they would lead the campaign for President Tinubu, Okechukwu said the president had never overlooked the governors or denied them their role in his campaigns for a second term.
He pointed out that what President Tinubu needs is supplementary votes, particularly from political structures and constituencies where the electorate were ignobly marginalised.